private tours in Tortuguero

Cheryl,
We went with Watson's, but did stay at Laguna. He told us he could book at most of the lodges, but I am not familiar with Princesa.

Personally I would not want to stay in town. It's very small and the nearby lodges have many amenities that the B&B does not. A few hours visiting the Turtle Conservation Center, wandering through the town down to the national park entrance was plenty of time.

I think Daryl Loth gets great reviews, I know I've read about him - maybe in Lonely Planet, Moon or Rough Guide?

I agree with Colibri. I think by the time you add up tours, meals, transportation, etc., you are paying as much or more than you would have paid to take one of the lodge packages.

These are pretty reasonably priced, and they have their system down. No hiccups along the way. Plus, you have the option to continue to Arenal or return to San Jose after your stay.

We have always preferred the Mawamba Lodge. It is on the ocean side of the estuary, and just a short walk into the village and CCC center. They keep the group sizes small, and assign the same guide to you for your entire stay. The Lodge owner started as a guide himself, so he has a good feel for what people want.

We had a wonderful guide during our last visit. Our group included only five people. He could see that we were all interested, and really took time to explain everything. He didn't just phone it in.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can offer any more advice.

Warm Regards,
Pat Hewitt
Travel Professional

here's the thing; after adding up everything, the difference for the four of us is $522. that seems like a lot to me! i haven't included meals but my assumption is that the restaurants in town would be pretty inexpensive. i know the trade-off is hotel amenities. did you find you used that stuff?

The pool! It is hot and sticky in Tortuguero, and good luck finding any A/C! You can't swim in the ocean either. The pool offers welcome relief from the heat after a long day of tours.

You are correct in assuming that you could feed the gang for two days, for a lot less than $500.

What I like about the packages is that everything is handled by one entity, someone that does this every single day. They have their system down. There are very few hitches, and they can handle any problems you might encounter along the way. This is a remote area, and it is good to have that backup. Just in case.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can offer any more advice.

Warm Regards,
Pat Hewitt
Travel Professional

To be honest, I would not want to stay in town since there just isn't much there. Casa Marbella (if I remember correctly) is right on the main walkway through town, so I think it would be noisy, plus I love lush landscaping and can spend hours photographing flowers, plants and critters.

Laguna was not luxurious by any means, very simple, but the grounds were lovely, the pool was great and we had fun searching for frogs in the frog pond area after dinner.

I note you're taking a public bus which we didn't. Modesto picked us up in San Jose and arranged for a transfer back. We had 8 meals included in our package, transportation, lodging, everything except alcohol and $10 entry in the national park. I would think the transportation is the biggest difference since your meals would be cheap in town, but pretty limited in number of places to eat.

I also liked that Laguna is on the ocean side and our cabins were the closest to the beach. But if you are trying to cut costs then staying in town sounds much cheaper.

I totally agree with colibri - the ease of everything being scheduled. The pool was a huge advantage. The meals, while not great at all were there for us. The lodge was nice - we stayed at Laguna and went with the Watson's as well. I will mention that there was a woman with our group who stayed in town. She travelled on our tours in the canals and travelled with us from San Jose, but didn't stay at Laguna - you may want to check with the Watson's to see about that option for your group.

As others have mentioned, I wouldn't want to stay in town either. The lodge had a lot of appeal for us. It was very basic, but it was a lot of fun for our family.

thanks Shell, how old were your kids?
it sounds like the woman who traveled with you did the same in-town option as i'm considering. i wonder if she was happy with her decision.

Our kids were 7 and 9 last summer when we went. They would not have enjoyed staying in town. They loved the pool at Laguna Lodge. And even though you couldn't swim at the beach, walking on it and huting for the biggest coconut and just being by the ocean was great. The town is very, very small.

It's not what I'd call a "tourist" town - it's where the people of Tortuguero live and the visitors come to see. It's a few dirt streets. Mostly homes and a few shops on the main road - from what I could tell.

I loved our time in Tortuguero, but part of that was staying at the lodge.

You know, I think I can stay at a Lodge without the tour and then arrange separately for tours with the Watsons or Daryl. The best of both worlds I think! Thanks for the input, it helped to clarify my thinking. When we're happily floating in the pool, we'll think of you!

Another question now, is it possible to travel from Arenal to Tortuguero without a rental car?

Hi, cheryl - we just finished the Tortuguero portion of our trip. We traveled from Arenal to Tortuguero; our pickup was arranged by our lodge. It's a long five-hour trip on the road to Cano Blanco, and then you board the boat to go to the lodges - that part was over an hour but less than two. The last hour on the road was very, very bumpy - roads were not paved. I agree with everyone else that you wouldn't want to stay in the town - it's very small, and the lodges are so lush and beautiful and offer the pool - it was very hot there. I would bring something to do in case it rains - books, DVD players, games or something along those lines. The wildlife in Tortuguero is amazing.

thanks for the suggestions and info vgirl, your thread on tortuguero was great btw. did you see the turtles? i've heard they're out and about!

Yes, we saw them; it was really amazing - they were so much bigger than I expected. The night hike out is a really neat experience. Lots of waiting around, and you don't know if you'll get to see one or not. Some people go on multiple nights if they don't see anything.

We have done the Arenal / Tortuguero (or vice versa) for several clients. We arrange for the clients to be picked up early in Arenal, and meet up with the rest of the group at the breakfast stop en route.

You might also ask the lodge (or have your travel agent ask) about the guide. Sometimes, the guides are not employees, but are contracted for a particular week. This happens especially during busy times. Maybe they can arrange for the lodge to contract the guide you want. If you end up sharing him with another couple of people, you will keep the cost down.

Also be aware that as good as this other fellow may be, there are lots of good guides in Costa Rica. Ticos are just generally nice folks, and those that go into this kind of work tend to be even more so. They go to school for some of their knowledge. Most have a lot of passion for what they do, and continue to further their education through more classes, independent reading, or working with local biologists. Combine this with any knowledge they have from just living or growing up in the area, and you have the makings of a great guide.

What I am trying to say, is that I am sure that the guide mentioned may be a great guy and a good guide. But just because someone you know may have had a great experience with him, doesn't mean that another professional guide is not going to give you as good or better an experience.

You may be putting yourself through a lot of effort or expense, for little or no gain. The folks at the lodges know who is good, and who isn't. The guide is an extremely important part of the product they offer. Incompetent or grumpy guides don't stick around long!

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can offer any more advice.

Warm Regards,
Pat Hewitt
Travel Professional

Thank you so much for your reply Pat. It isn't that I don't think the Lodge guide would be knowledgable or competent. My interest is in a a more personalized experience for the four of us. Perhaps I am wrong, but I figure the boats from the Lodges are pretty good size with a dozen or more on board. Is that true?

If I understand, you are suggesting that I ask the lodge to contact the guy directly? At an additional cost?

The other part is the money honestly and to arrange my own transportation via bus doesn't seem that daunting. If I've done the math right, I can save at least $200, which means we can go rafting or do another tour in the Arenal area.

I now intend to rent a car for the first 3 days to La Fortuna and back and then dump the car and head for Tortuguero.

Your comments are VERY welcome!

I think it depends on where you stay. We stayed at the Tortuga Lodge; they have a rep for personalized service. We went to the desk and asked to do a canal tour, and they called a guide who came and picked just the two of us up. It was great! Other lodges assign people to a group, and you do all your tours and eat all your meals with that specific group. We saw a lot of variety in the tour groups when we were out on the water. We saw people kayaking alone, people in small groups in canoes, and people in bigger boats with quite a few on board. Our experience was wonderful. I thought the people kayaking were quite brave - we saw some huge crocs!

welcome back! i haven't had time to read your trip report but i'm looking forward to it!

did the personalized guide cost you extra?

Some people book the tours as part of their package, but we didn't. Our lodge charged $12 per person per hour. We went for a total of three hours and saw animals constantly. We wouldn't have seen a lot of them on our own. Sometimes our guide would say, "Look at that" and we wouldn't even know what he was talking about! And he would always say, "Right in front of you" - it got to be funny because then all of a sudden we would see a big caiman or gorgeous bird. They literally would be right in front of us!